Another Fate
by Element-of-Fabulosity
Summary: The myth goes like this: Kouka was founded by a mighty king, blessed by the gods themselves. (Thousands of years ago, the Four Dragon Gods did not create four Dragon Warriors. Instead they gave their powers to Hiryuu...and changed everything.)
1. Chapter 1

There's a story of a princess driven from her palace and forged in fire whose desire to live brought together legends and altered history. This is not that story. Wind back time to the distant past. (Butterflies create hurricanes.)

The fallen god Hiryuu stood before the Four, surrounded by the desolation they had wrought. Ashes fell like snow upon the charred rubble. Severed corpses lay scattered by the storm. The few left living crept from the ruins and bowed before the gods- all but one.

Hiryuu's eyes turned heavenward to the Four. They said nothing in stubborn, silent mourning for the human lives their siblings would not acknowledge. The Four demanded (pleaded) that Hiryuu return home. Hiryuu refused and refused again.

(A butterfly beat its wings.)

Here lie a crossroads. Once upon a time, the Four said their farewells and left to seek out four humans worthy to hold a portion of their power. This is not what happened. One of the Four let slip their intention to create four guardians. Something old and powerful sparked up in Hiryuu's eyes and voice. " _No,"_ they said, and they would not be ignored.

Power never comes without a price; this was a fundamental law of the universe that even the gods could not ignore. Hiryuu did not want to know how much suffering their siblings' _gifts_ would lead to.

Claws rent scales above four great hearts. Scarlet blood gushed into a goblet woven from air. Hiryuu took the goblet in unshaking hands and drank. The mingled blood was fire and ice and lightning and poison. At last Hiryuu rose, stubborn to the end. The Four returned to their own world, and so Hiryuu bore the blessings of the Four.

(But Hiryuu had been immortal once and never could be so again.)

* * *

 ** _(Part the Second)_**

Two thousand years come and gone in the blink of an eye, too many lifetimes to count and nothing, nothing at all to the ones living _here_ and _now_. The story goes that Kouka was founded by a king who was blessed by the gods. History becomes legend. Legend becomes myth. Time erodes all, even truth.

So, when a princess is born bearing white scales on her right arm and green scales on her right leg and eyes that belong to nothing human…

 _(Blessed by the gods_ is so vague.)

The midwife is sworn to secrecy. The king and queen console each other, together in heartbreak. Priests come, inspect the child. Some say that she is a demon, and others say that she is the daughter of one, and look accusingly to the queen. Yet another calls her deformities a sign that she is favored by the gods, that she must one day take the throne lest the kingdom fall. The truth-

(The truth is that no human alive can hear gods, spirits, demons, and all the rest who roam worlds not our own. The truth is that even holy men lack purity in their hearts; they too fall prey to pride and they too have machinations of their own.)

Kill her. Save her. Il and Kashi look into the (dragon) eyes of the three-day-old Princess Yona and discover that they can't bring himself to hate their poor, ugly, deformed daughter.

So she is nursed by the queen herself. No wet nurses means fewer secret-keepers. For the first years of her life, her world consists of Mother, Father, a single nursemaid, and one lavishly decorated room. She cannot imagine that there is a world beyond that door. Oh, rumors fly like maggots in raw meat. The princess is scarred, attacked (by who?) as a child. She was born horribly deformed. She is too sickly to leave her private wing.

(The Princess' nurse loses function of one arm. The next day, she is replaced. New rumors take a dark turn.)

Princess Yona grows. Il gives her a wing of the palace. He showers her with toys and books. Kashi insists on a tutor; he is sworn to secrecy on pain of death. Servants, guards, nobles ask: what is the mysterious princess like?

Her hair is brightest crimson. She wears a veil over her face even when alone. And she is otherwise everything a princess should be, accepting general brattiness as a condition of that tender age...

History continues with barely a feather ruffled. Il ascends to the throne. There is rebellion. Kashi takes a sword to the stomach for her king and love. Locked in her wing, Princess Yona does not learn of this until days later.

Su-won never covers her head with his coat and offers to hold her hand as she sleeps; he has never met his cousin. One of the pillars of her small world gone forever, Princess Yona cries herself to sleep. She wishes there were scales around her heart too. Above all else, she learns to be lonely.

The pain recedes a little more with the passing of every season. Princess Yona lives a life of luxury in her jewelry box wing. She dresses up in the finest silks and files down those ugly claws with the one thing they cannot rend: a rectangle of solid diamond. Beaded slippers and long skirts hide her right foot. She owns veils in every color of the rainbow.

(There is only one mirror in her wing. She does not like mirrors.)

Driven half by curiosity and half by childish, reckless dares, Su-won and Hak venture to Princess Yona's private wing. They do not find the Princess, but they do find the king on his way out. Il is capable of rage after all, and he is a force to be reckoned with. The image of the happy-go-lucky king fragments. Hak is left stunned as they flee.

(Su-won fakes his shock. He has seen this fury once before, and Il wielded a sword that first time.)

Princess Yona plays tricks on her servants and her tutor when she grows bored, which is often. She reads very well when she wants to, but holds no interest in histories or economics or any other subject her exasperated tutor is intent on hammering into her head. She wheedles bits of freedom from her father: walking through the palace's gardens, dining with her father in the banquet hall. After years of begging, she attends her first ball at the age of thirteen.

She shares a dance with Kan Tae-jun. It is a testament to his inability to lie that the princess who has lived her life in a birdcage can see that he doesn't want to be there. As his brother and father remind him, the man who marries her will be king. Though Tae-jun fantasizes about a day when he wears a crown, he cannot bear the notion of a sickly, deformed wife.

Princess Yona shares a dance with Su-won. He, too, offers sympathy for her condition. He says that he cannot imagine being locked away all the time. She will not elaborate on the topic, and he apologizes with an easy smile. (Later, Hak will ask if he's aiming for the crown. Su-won will turn the subject away.) The cousins glide over the floor. He watches when she doesn't seem to be looking, trying to catch a glimpse of her face behind the swaying veil. He catches the delicate curve of her jaw. There is something red on an otherwise-blemishless cheek, and his first thought is blood.

He wonders. (It is Il who inadvertently taught Su-won about masks. The king has plenty to hide.) He wonders and listens and gathers that there is a certain rumor that is nearest the truth.

Princess Yona's last dance is with Son Hak, at Su-won's urging. She's certain she hears Su-won giggle as they twirl away, he more careless than anything. Hak does not ask about her _condition_ when she expects him to, instead keeping to trivial topics: the weather, the food served. The dumplings are the best she's ever tasted. They part ways, and as Princess Yona is leaving she looks back and Hak is grinning at something Su-won said and her heart might just give out then and there.

The next day, Princess Yona pores over the romance novels she has convinced her maid to smuggle in. Some months later she spies the Wind Tribe caravan and shouts for her lady-in-waiting to help her find a finer dress. She takes a greater interest in cosmetics, practicing on her lady-in-waiting, her maid, and (once) on her tutor. Her effort is in vain: Hak is not at the next New Year's banquet. Princess Yona's lady-in-waiting informs her that he is spending it in Fuuga.

Il never asks Hak to guard his daughter. The General and the Princess cross paths only a few times after that. Beneath her veil (an insurmountable barrier) Princess Yona burns pink at his presence and at her daydreams. (And when her fists clench, those claws are another reminder that she's not entirely human.)

She remembers her first nurse in bits and pieces. The way that her father says _she retired_ is the same way that he says _of course you're the prettiest girl in all of Kouka_. Perhaps it is cruel, but she refuses to wear her veil one day and yes, her maid is afraid of her. Princess Yona covers her face. The maid begs forgiveness and mops up the broken cup and spilled tea and the princess has no more answers than before, except this: she is dangerous.

So Princess Yona looks down at the hand that Hak will never hold. In the mirror, the eyes he will never (can never) gaze into. She lifts her fist and brings it down on the mirror as she howls her rage.

At the New Year's Banquet that year, Princess Yona does not dance.

That fateful night comes. Su-won drives his sword through Il's stomach. In her personal garden, Yona's blessed (cursed) eyes see the blank slate of her cousin's face and her father's blood pour. She feels her tiny world crumble around her as its last pillar is torn away. She stumbles backward. (Her lady-in-waiting looks around in confusion. The garden is empty.) Father is dead, and she latches onto a single thought: is she next?

There are guards coming. The world has never been clearer. She runs. The world is a blur and her thoughts run together like spilled ink. Soldiers lie broken and dazed in her wake. Someone reaches out the grab her and their fingers snatch only gauze. The veil flutters to the ground. (No Blue Dragon ever truly mastered their power.) Ghostly teeth close around still-outstretched fingers and there is a scream that is not the Princess'. She jumps in desperation and soars over the castle wall.

(Later, investigators will find a trail of destruction coming to an abrupt end in the courtyard. Su-won will remember the whispers and wonder once more. Some say the Princess is possessed by a demon.)

On the other side of the castle, Hak hears commotion and breaks into a run- in the other direction. He sprints toward the king's chambers, where Su-won is. He comes panting to a halt, weapon bare and he stares and stares. Su-won stands on the steps outside the king's chambers, a bloodied sword in his hand. Il lies unmoving in the room beyond.

Hak is loyal to the crown, as the general of the Wind Tribe must be. He is loyal to Su-won, too. He cannot reconcile the two: Su-won, his best friend, and Su-won, the cold-eyed murderer. He cannot deny Su-won's words: that Il was a weak king; that Kouka was weakening under his rule and the threat of being overrun was very real. When Su-won says that the (supposedly) peace-loving king took his own brother's life with the sword, Hak wonders, at the edge of protest. It is easy to imagine the wrathful man he met that day, years ago, killing his brother.

Hak sinks onto one knee to pledge (reaffirm) allegiance to the king of Kouka (his dearest friend). Beneath the pretty shell Su-won creates is something pointed, fierce, and gloriously relentless. Hak knows this as he knows that Su-won will do whatever it takes to achieve his goal, as he knows that _he_ will lend his strength to that cause.

(Long live the king.)

* * *

 _ **(Part the Third)**_

Pinpricks tug at Ik-su's arms and hair. Voices mutter in his ear: _she is lost. Find her._ The chatterings guide him as he rises, like a children's game: he is warmer now, he is getting colder... _wrong way!_ Yun spots him stumbling out into the forest and shouts after him to at least stick to the path.

 _Paths less chosen and all that,_ a high voice chitters. While Yun mutters irritation, Ik-su smiles at his adopted brother's (for their relationship is surely not father and son) anxiety. Although he will never said it aloud, he feels sorry for Yun, who cannot see the fuzzy edges of their world where it overlaps with others, nor can he hear the voices that fill it. A thought fills him with laughter- if Yun did have the Sight, he would boss around spirits as easily as he did mortal folk.

Ik-su comes upon a girl and he has never seen anyone so more clearly lost. He first thinks that she is half-fae with those glimmers of magic swirling about her. Then he looks again, and realizes that she has no innate ability (for those shards of power are only borrowed) except for an indomitable spirit that is all her own.

Yona shakes her hair out of her eyes and raises her fists as Ik-su raises his hands in surrender. She looks hungry, he says (a chorus of voices burble agreement) and invites her to his and Yun's home. She accepts the offer and Ik-su follows the giddy forest sprites home.

Yun is less than pleased at the new addition but greets Yona civilly enough. He's even less pleased at Ik-su losing one shoe somewhere in the forest, and makes this known. Then, because both Ik-su and Yona are useless, he makes dinner and starts looking for fabric to sew something more practical than the shredded, gaudy dress Yona wears. This is how a former princess comes to live with a (not) doctor and a priest.

The first days are difficult. Yona is used to being the center of existence. Yun does not like or trust royalty as a matter of principle. His words are a slap in the face: hasn't she ever thanked anyone in her life? Yona wavers, guilt pooling around her as she realizes: he's right. He doesn't owe her a thing. No one does, and that she is princess means nothing at all. Ashamed, Yona apologizes and although neither of them realize it then, everything has changed.

Standing in the morning sun (what seems to be) a lifetime away from the palace, Yona realizes three things: here and now, she is alive. Cursed (blessed) though she is, she is still alive. She wants to continue to live and she wants to stand on her own two feet. And so the first layers of that weak exterior fall away. She is a far more eager student than she ever was for her tutor as she learns to gather edible plants, how to sew, how to weed a garden, how to set traps.

She learns how to take the life of an animal. She learns how to be hungry and how to sleep on the ground. The first time she catches a fish with only her claws, those scales seem a little less unsightly. Bit by bit, her naivete falls away as she realizes: the common folk live harder lives than she thought possible. Guilt is a twisting knife with every memory of her former, carefree life.

Though Yona wears the scales of the Four, she is still purely human and so deaf to their voices and the voices of the spirits. When wriggling things shimmer into existence it is only Ik-su who sees. _Evil,_ they whisper. _They will spill blood here._ He goes to the door and sees them: armed men and women, belonging to no army. _Thieves and murderers,_ an imp howls at his elbow.

Yun follows Ik-su from the hut. If Ik-su is afraid, it means bandits or a storm and the sky is clear today. He goes for his biggest grinding-stone. He won't go down without a fight, though he knows how this will end.

Yona sees, too, with her far-reaching eyes. She bursts into the clearing. The robbers emerge from the thicket. The birds have stopped singing. (Ik-su wonders if they too can sense the demons that follow the scent of death.) Five against three and the five are armed. Still Ik-su does not regret the oath he took to never spill blood.

Yona runs forward and she can only think one thing: _protect them._ She has fought only once before but everything she lacks in skill she more than makes up for in raw force. She makes a fist with her thumb inside and only snowy scales keep it from breaking. She leaps and whirls (and moves as though she is dancing) and few strikes make contact, but it is enough.

Three robbers are left standing and it is clear to them that they are outmatched. They run, dragging their companions, and Yona does not pursue. This, Yona realizes, is something that she can do, possibly better than anyone else. She can fight and she can protect others. (She tries to ignore the inner voice that says she couldn't protect Mother and Father.) And so she begins practicing: she paralyzes the animals caught in her and Yun's traps instead of slitting their throats; she finds a solid-looking boulder and learns to throw a proper punch; she practices her flying kicks with a fervor almost religious.

The time comes for Yun's annual trek around the Fire Tribe. He asks Yona if she'll accompany him; she agrees. They camp and he leads the way, long familiar with these roads, and she guards. Bandages cover her right hand, her right leg, and her eyes. One night when they stay in a young couple's home in exchange for good food, Yona watches a hawk fall, an arrow lodged in its wing. Archery, she thinks, would be useful to learn. So she mentions it to Yun, who agrees and gives her a pouch of the money they've made selling herbs, hats, and shoes.

The village not large enough to have a permanent weapons store, but there is a craftsman at the traveling market who makes bows. Yona examines each, and the customer next to her suggests a sturdily-built wooden bow. They strike up a conversation: he doesn't use a bow himself, but a lot of people in his mountain village do. He's an herbalist by trade, having been taught by his grandmother. He says his name is Kija, and Yona hesitates only a second before telling him hers. It is safe. The only connection that exists to her past life is her name; not a soul in Kouka has seen her face.

While Kija and Yun discuss the best ways to gather and preserve plants, Yona explores and purchases a mask in the shape of a butterfly. She cannot yet reliably control the power of her eyes.

So Yona and Yun wander from village to village, buying and selling, and Yona notices common threads linking them all. Hunger. Poverty. These have plagued the land for generations. The problems are exacerbated by Kan Su-jin, who conscripts near all the men into the Fire Tribe's army.

She is Kouka's princess, whether she wears the crown or not. Still so unbearably ignorant, she at least knows this: her father loved this country in his own, weak-willed way. (Yet still so many suffered. They suffered while she was waited on hand and foot.) Perhaps this, Yona thinks one night, is the reason she was born this way. She has the power to change this kingdom and if she does not act she is guilty of the same sins as her father.

She dons a mask in the shape of a butterfly. She does not take up a sword; she has no need when each of her right fingers ends in a claw. She descends from the sky, crimson hair whipping in a frenzy, like some forgotten god. She lands on the ground, scaled arm and foot bared for all the world to see, and proclaims to the awed mortals that this village is under her protection.

Yun watches from the safety of the crowd. In this world the strong control the world and the weak shuffle along and do as best they can, and Yun is weak and so very aware of this. He cannot stand before armed soldiers without fear, without dying. But…he is not useless. For all the blessings she wears Yona is not invulnerable, and so Yun will be there to clean her wounds, to sew the gashes and set broken bones, to stave off infection and disease.

And this is exactly what happens. Yona fights and Yun patches her up afterwards. Yona learns the meaning of pain the first time an arrow pierces her leg and still she is not deterred. Yun tells her to be careful although she will not listen. (And if she ever does and gives up fighting for her own, the world may end then and there.)

Kan Su-jin dispatches his youngest son to track down and eliminate the masked insurgent. She becomes the stuff of campfire stories, the ghost whispered of by the laborers in their paddies. They say the cruel General's enforcers cannot touch the villages under her protection. They say she brings food to the hungry children and medicine to the ill. Against all odds, Kan Tae-jun finds himself face to face with the masked warrior.

He is shaking and she is still. (His face is familiar and she remembers nothing of their one interaction.) He orders his men to arrest her. Most disobey, out of fear or out of respect for the person who helped their families. The bravest and the most foolish rush forward and fall (but do not die. Nobody will die here today.)

And while the children squabble, the adults have a conversation that goes like this: _you are stirring up rebellion. While your goal is admirable, the general and the king can't overlook that._ Heuk-chi says this in the manner of one discussing recent mild weather.

 _It isn't our intention._ Yun is sincere: he wants to help simple folk, not uproot the kingdom.

 _...I thought not._ (Few realize how clever Heuk-chi is, and this is how he plans to keep it.)

While Yona looms above the retreating soldiers, Yun and Heuk-chi hatch a plan of their own. Within a day, the Masked Warrior vanishes from the face of the world. Though she is gone, the changes in the land of Fire continue to ripple and warp the tribe.

Tae-jun leads a contingent of soldiers to find the person (vigilante, bandit, hero) known as the Masked Warrior, and nobody can prove the rumors that spring up around them. Soldiers seen hoeing fields...or so the gossip goes. There's a form somewhere in the bureaucratic labyrinth of Saika claiming that a house in a certain village was seized to act as a remote base of operations. If the people in that village were to be asked of this, and look to each other in confusion because that building is now a hospital...well, clerical errors happen all the time, don't they?

In Kuuto, Su-won pieces together reports and whispers passed amongst the shadows and discovers a newfound respect for Heuk-chi. In Saika, a treasonous General schemes. In the Sen Province of the Kai Empire, a veiled woman dances for the festival of fire.

* * *

 **Ik-su's a fairy. Or part-fairy, whatever. This was not planned at all.** **Also, t** **he idea of Yun and Heuk-chi being the only sane men in their respective groups and calmly talking things out while everyone else fights never fails to crack me up.**

 **This au may or may not be continued.**


	2. Chapter 2

Lee Geun-tae respects strength, and so he is disappointed that it is Su-won himself and not his right-hand general that comes to Chi'shin. They sip tea and dress up for a mock fight. (It is not a pretend war that Su-won fights, this war for the future of Kouka.)

Meanwhile, Hak and Kye-sook follow their instructions to go to the worst part of the Earth Tribe, a port town called Awa. Kye-sook is well-learned in the art of subterfuge and suggests they disguise themselves and scout out the town first. Hak agrees because he knows how to pick his battles. (Su-won says that Kye-sook's goals coincide with theirs and he will not act rashly. Never did Su-won say that Kye-sook is trustworthy.)

The smiles in the port town of Awa are false. Two more merchants enter the town with the masses. They ask questions, just two curious visitors, and take care not to cause trouble. A few days later the King's Advisor and the General of the Wind Tribe pay an visit to Lord Yan Kumji. The young king is very interested in learning more about his kingdom, Kye-sook says. He is here in His Majesty's stead, the king himself being occupied with matters in Chi'shin.

Of course, Yan Kumji says with an equally-faked smile. He tells them of Awa's imports and exports, how they could bring prosperity to the kingdom. They sit down to eat a lavish dinner and neither Hak nor Kye-sook eat. The gloves come off now: Kumji is lying and they know it. Kye-sook informs Kumji that he is under arrest for tax evasion. The punishment is a token one for that, but while he waits in prison they will convince his co-conspirators to testify against him. (Even Kye-sook has no sympathy for human traffickers.)

Kumji shakes off his shock and asks how they'll do _that_ if they won't leave this room alive. He shouts, and scores of mercenaries storm into the banquet hall. Hak gave up his spear at the entrance, a show of goodwill. No need to be armed when among friends...but nor could the guards search them. Hak draws the sword hidden under his cloak.

(So much blood stains the carpets and tapestries.)

A storm sweeps Awa. Hak and Kye-sook discover a grudging respect for each other as they root out the drug lords and mob bosses of Awa: distrust each other as they may, they are good at what they do. A new governor is appointed and Hak and Kye-sook return to Chi'shin in time to hear of Geun-tae's victory in the mock-battle. The city is livelier than ever as a new craze sweeps the city for the turquoise stones their beloved general wore. Hak smirks to himself when Geun-tae greets him and expresses surprise at how Su-won is.

Su-won is weak, as the man who raised him was- nothing like his father and grandfather. Su-won is carefree and young and ignorant. These are undisputed facts among the nobility of Kouka, and Hak wants to laugh. This is the image Su-won has cultivated probably since birth. He knows the power of being underestimated. Hak has seen Su-won's true self only a handful of times, each instance like lightning: there and gone, dazzling and unforgettable. He's five steps or farther ahead of everyone else; his ambition is infinite. (He remembers cold eyes sometimes and it ignites a deep fear: the Su-won he knows does not exist, either.)

* * *

Leagues away, Yona and Yun travel north by back roads and detours, hoods hiding their faces. They cross paths with the herbalist, Kija, and the three share a meal. Yun explains that they are journeying north. The crops interest him, he says. The land grows harsher as you travel farther north...yet. Yet Kai is a mighty empire. What do they live off of? Isn't it possible that they have developed new strains of crops or a technique for coaxing a yield from the parched earth?

Kija agrees, fascinated. He asks if they will allow him to join them, if it does not impose on them. Yona smiles and says _certainly!_ before Yun can respond. And so the duo becomes a trio.

(Kija's reason for joining them is not so selfless as curiosity. His grandmother has taken up a hobby of arranging a marriage for him.)

It does not take long for Kija to realize that Yona never removes the veil and bandages that cover more than half her body. He asks, once, if it is a contagious disease, and is relieved when Yona shakes her head. (He does not ask again. He understands secrets, having one of his own.) He takes shifts acting as lookout and gathers firewood and pitches the tent in turn with Yona and Yun. He gathers weeds and stows them in his bag and catches odd looks from Yun. (The truth: he's no herbalist.)

Yona shoots two hundred arrows every night after the sun has gone down. Kija and Yun fall asleep to the twanging rhythm. They meet bandits more than once; Yona protects Yun and Kija. She is stronger now (and it is not enough.) One of them gets in a lucky hit. Yun rushes from the bushes where he hides. Yona bites her tongue, her hand to muffle the shriek when Yun pulls the arrowhead from her right arm. It has pierced the boundary where flesh meets scale, and more importantly, it has pierced an artery. Yun shifts gear, fire in his eyes. They've no alcohol; he must sterilize a needle in fire. He orders Kija to help him- apply pressure there. Keep her arm high, above her heart.

Kija sees her snowy scales and the needlepoint claws and makes no comment. (He cannot forget his grandmother's cautionary tales sorcerers giving up their hearts to transform themselves into something not human.) Later, he approaches her again and this time he is blunt: is she a witch?

Yona doesn't understand, except that he means her scales. (Deformities they are no longer.) I was born this way, she replies. After that, she jumps about more freely and the three make better time. They come to Senri village, once part of Kouka but lost as the price of peace. Yona knows how to dance for one reason only: a _proper_ princess can dance. (For a short time, she thought she would impress Hak.) For the first time in her life, she raises a sword. She dances for the sake of the iza, for the sake of that small chance it may help to fill those gaunt bellies that were common as flies.

The old man gives Yun a sack of the precious seed. Yona sees Fire Tribe soldiers at the border and the vanguard of a general from Sen Province, Li Hazara. Yona, Yun and Kija rush back to Saika. None of them have stepped foot in the Fire Tribe's capitol. They flock together, intimidated more than anyone will admit by the noise and confusion of the city. It turns out that merchants have grapevines of their own, and Yun hears a rumor that Rokka Fortress has fallen. The pride of the Fire Tribe, the peddler calls it. Shipments in and out of the city are blocked by Kai Empire soldiers camped in front of the gates of Saika.

Her decision is easy. Kyo-ga's forces are pinned. Su-jin, who they say has ordered a retreat and requested reinforcements, cannot return to Saika. Yona looks back at her newfound friends. Kija uses the bow better than her, but that means almost nothing. Yun is no fighter. They're weak...but she is not. She soars, bow in hand and sword at her hip and jumps onto the walls of Saika.

She lands atop the wall with every intention of flying into the middle of camp and kicking a tent into their cooking fire. Her goal is to spread confusion and panic, not kill. She spots something in the corner of her eye. Then she wrenches her mask off and almost cannot believe what her eyes see. Kan Su-jin's and Li Hazara's armies march together toward Kuuto.

She looks again. Few are injured; they have not seen battle. Ignorant though she is, not even a child could miss what Su-jin has done. She looks back to the Sen Province soldiers and again at the marching armies. Combined, they seem endless and she is only one person. She braces herself to jump. She is Kouka's princess still and she will not let this (her) land be plunged into chaos.

In the city, Yun is the first to realize Yona is missing. He alerts Kija. They search their usual haunts, the cheap inn, and comb the slums. Bit by bit, their shared suspicion grows: Yona has done something rash. Kija takes this in and makes a decision. Although he has not known the Princess for long, he is proud to call her a friend. He will protect her if she is in danger...and he is almost certain she is.

In the mountains and forests of Kouka live a number of hidden tribes, isolated from the rest of the world. Many cling to unique customs, the last vestiges of a time when Kouka did not exist...a time when magic was common, when spirits and demons walked the earth. The village of Rogai (in another world called the Village of the White Dragon) is one such clan. Kija's secret? He is among the last wizards in Kouka, taught the art by his grandmother...after all, love potions are not the only thing she can brew.

So he crushes and boils what Yun called weeds in a pot and chants in a forgotten language. The mirrored surface of the potion burns silver-blue. Figures flash by in the flames. Yun gives a shout when they see a wave of familiar red curls. There is Yona in the heart of the battle, sword in her left hand and claws fully expanded. Hairline cracks run up and down the butterfly mask. Kija better understands Yun's nickname _rare beast_.

The last drops of the scrying potion burn away. _Now what?_ Yun asks.

Kija picks up his bow and quiver. _I will fight._ Because although he comes nowhere near her impossible strength, he is far from helpless. Because there are people important to him, and he will protect them with every fiber of his being.

Yun stares at him and sighs and thinks that he's found someone who matches Yona in- well, some might call it determination. Yun calls it stupidity. But he agrees: seeing Yona try to protect everyone, seeing her do everything humanly possible (and things not humanly possible) inspires him. He can almost believe that he, with his little skill and little knowledge, can make a difference. He remembers the words he said to her as they stood before a funeral pyre where a tiny body burned: _let's erase this sight from the land of Fire._

Kija isn't skilled enough in wizardry to craft a tracking spell, so they ride double on a horse to the thick of the battle, Yun at the reins and Kija shooting arrow after potion-dipped arrow. (Poisons are the weapons of a coward. Sleeping potions, on the other hand, are merciful.)

Elsewhere, Kan Su-jin sits atop his warhorse and screams to the world that _he_ is Hiryuu. _He_ bears the blessings of the gods. They will take the castle that is rightfully his from the usurper.

Like lightning, a figure crashes down before him and silence falls. Blood drips from her sword and her claws and is spattered across her cheeks. Her hair is an inferno and her mask is half-shattered. _Blessings of the gods?_ the unearthly figure echoes. _Don't make me laugh._

She takes a step forward. Kan Su-jin can neither move forward nor retreat. One eye glistens in the ruddy light. _Kan Su-jin,_ she says, _you are despicable._ She goes on to explain why: Her father trusted him. He is one of the Five Generals of Kouka and he should have protected his people- not let them starve while he built an army to overthrow the king. Someone once told her that she bore the Dragon Gods' blessings. She is glad that it was the burden belongs to her and not someone like Kan Su-jin.

Su-jin's face contorts in rage. He shouts _kill her!_ It's too late: his army was disillusioned before the butterfly-masked spirit appeared. A soldier throws a spear at the would-be king and Su-jin falls.

It's like seeing Father fall all over again but Yona cannot regret her words or pity the man now fallen to the ground. She turns to soar elsewhere and freezes. Her blood is ice. Her body will not move, like the paralysis has taken her in spite of her power not having touched a soul today. There, a stone's throw away, is her father's murderer.

( _Su-won_ was never the name she breathed with the innocent lust of a smitten twelve-year-old. All she feels in this moment is fury.)

Su-won saw her strike the ground and heard her words. He has a very good memory, knows it, and recognizes his cousin now. She turns and he knows she recognizes him too. (You never forget the face of the person who killed someone so dear to you.)

She moves so quickly he cannot react.

An earsplitting clash shatters the air around them. Hak stands between Su-won and Yona. The point of his spear grazes her heart. A deep breath will pierce skin. Her claws are curled around the blade, her human palm pressed against the flat in her effort to push the steel away. Both of them strain with exertion, locked in a standstill that neither can afford to give up.

Yona remembers a smile that lit up the room and feels her fragmented heart splinter anew. _Walk away, Hak,_ she warns. _I don't want to fight you._

 _To hell with that,_ Hak growls. He does not wonder how she knows his name, nor care at the second. Su-won's life takes priority.

Yona has never seen eyes so vicious. She wonders how this is the same boy she fell in love with. ( _Thought_ she was in love with, she corrects herself. She was a spoiled, naive girl concerned only with her tiny world.)

She flexes. He loses an inch. Horror dawns on him now: she has been holding back. It has been a very long time since he was outmatched for raw strength and had the circumstances been any other (had his dearest friend's life not been at stake) it would have been glorious.

They explode into action. Swipe and deflect- it's a deadly dance, and Yona has come a long way since the robbers who attacked Yun and Ik-su. That small skill is nothing next to the Thunder Beast of Kouka. Claws slice the air. The butt of his spear slams into her temple. Stars burst in her vision. Her mask is ruined, fallen away and forgotten. She growls (and there are _fangs_ ) and forces herself to stand.

Su-won remains rooted, unwilling or unable to flee. His other generals are elsewhere in this bloody battle and cannot help.

Hak hefts his spear to go for the killing blow. Whoever or whatever she is- she bleeds red.

Yona braces herself. She will not die here. Not yet.

Hak slashes. Yona opens the floodgate behind her eyes. It surrounds her, wreathing her in shadows and it's _enough_. (It takes every inch of willpower to keep the _not-her_ from swallowing the hearts in front of her but if there's anything Yona has never lacked, it's willpower.) She rips the spear out of Hak's hands in that crucial distracted moment and shoves him away in the other direction. He crashes and rolls over the dirt, black spots in his eyes. Yona pins Su-won to the ground with her right foot. Seiryuu's blessing swirls around her. She remembers her father. She remembers his blood.

Su-won is calm. _This,_ he thinks, _is how it ends._ Hak struggles to his feet. A growl tears from his throat. He is unarmed and too far away to reach Su-won in time.

Yona's voice is a whisper that carries in the dead silence. "Killing you won't bring him back." She lifts her foot and walks away to jump where they cannot follow.

 _Wait,_ Su-won says. (The Princess' nurse retired, so they say. Il's mistake was that he would not silence her permanently. Su-won remembers well the haunted look in her eyes when she spoke of an illusory dragon.) He gestures wide. _We're losing. Can you do nothing more?_

Su-won speaks truth, and Yona hates this. She looks across the battlefield. Her people are dying here, and that is more important than her grudge. (She remembers so many little children in those villages: _Father had to go join the army._ ) She has never attempted to use her power on this scale. To incapacitate an army without taking their lives- that will take a fine control she doesn't know if she possesses. She thinks of Yun and Kija and Ik-su, of Tae-jun and all his men. They believe in her. She will believe in herself now.

(The retired nurse recounted how the princess toppled over when the illusion vanished, how for hours she could not move.)

Yona does not possess such fine control...but what she has is enough. Li Hazara's army falls, untouched by weapons. The Sky Tribe pushes onward with renewed vigor. The Fire Tribe fractures, half turned on itself and in the end Kouka stands victorious. Yona's _not-self_ spins into nothing and she collapses. Darkness takes her. Hak shifts aside crimson curls to press his fingers to her neck. There is a pulse, and he is more relieved than he will say.

 _Bind her,_ Su-won says. They will take her back to Hiryuu Palace. If Hak is confused, if he is conflicted, he says nothing.

And so the battle ends. Su-won leads his army back to Kuuto. Though they won, the price was high. Yun throws his lot in with a contingent of Earth Tribe soldiers making their slow way back to their homeland. He tends to their wounded and Yona is not among them. Kija stays with him, digging graves for those fallen in battle. The labor is taxing on his back and his mind, and he counts the blessing that he knows none of the faces he buries.


End file.
